In which a woman, long dead, refuses to behave accordingly.
Mere Animal is a solo show in development by Chicago theatre artist and narrative coach Janine Ashley.
In the afterlife, Mary Wollstonecraft has a problem: everyone knows the scandal but no one has read the books. Trapped between being remembered as a whore and a footnote, Mary enlists the audience — whom she casts as a roomful of like-minded revolutionaries — as her witnesses while she works through her own letters, lovers, and failures in real time, trying to reconcile her “mere animal” impulses with her revolutionary ideals. Seamlessly blending Wollstonecraft’s own words with original material, Mere Animal investigates self-authorship, public shaming, and the ongoing fight for women’s rights to the full human experience with humor, rage, and just enough hope to be dangerous.
Content note: Recommended for ages 14+; includes mature themes, strong language, and frank discussion of sexuality, misogyny, and political repression.
“Janine’s Mary Wollstonecraft goes from laugh‑out‑loud funny to break‑your‑heart pathos in a heel turn … and then back again.”
Jim, Calgary
Performances
April 26, 2026
Bughouse Theatre, Chicago. Performed as part of Fillet of Solo, an afternoon of live storytelling featuring emerging voices directed by Eileen Tull.
More dates to be announced. Follow the development to stay in the loop.
“I am nothing but a series of mistakes, a bundle of contradictions, moments of despair followed by moments of my heart leaping with voluptuous joy ....’”
“... dress of milkmaid and stockings of nun and hat of man and dress of — animal!”
Why "Mere Animal"?
In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft rages at a world that “makes mere animals” of women, training them for beauty and marriage instead of strength of body and mind. That accusation sits right next to her own very human reality: a woman with a radical philosophy, fierce desires, and the practical problem of surviving as a single woman (and later a single mother) in a patriarchal world.
Mere Animal lives inside that contradiction. The show follows Mary as she wrestles with her “animal” appetites, her lofty ideals, and the messy compromises required to stay alive and in motion. Echoing Theatre for Hope and Healing’s framework of Narrative Arts → Narrative Awareness → Narrative Agency, Mere Animal is the story of Mary naming the narratives that have trapped her, tearing them apart, and rewriting them as a story big enough for her animal body and her brilliant mind to coexist in one unruly, fully human life.
“But you — all of you, you are not dead, are you? You still have hope, possibilities, voices with which to speak, hands with which to write — and do…”
Get Involved
Follow the development
Updates, behind-the-scenes writing, and performance announcements via Substack.
Producers & Presenters
Interested in bringing Mere Animal to your stage, classroom, festival, or community? A 15‑minute video of a key scene is available for producers and curators upon request.
Support the work
Mere Animal is a Theatre for Hope and Healing project and is available for production and presentation in partnership with theatres, festivals, and presenting organizations.
Theatre for Hope and Healing is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Theatre for Hope and Healing must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.